


Curse Or Cure

by my_dark_disquiet



Category: Poets of the Fall
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Fear, Gen, Military Science Fiction, Soldiers, implied jaska/jari, just gotta get this outta my system, wow it's another au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-12 03:02:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 9,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29878101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/my_dark_disquiet/pseuds/my_dark_disquiet
Summary: Regular citizens in The Compound go on with their daily lives, oblivious to the things that the military hides from them. Nobody questions why the whole city is surrounded by an electric fence capable of killing a bear instantly, nor do they question the tight curfews and why soldiers patrol the streets at night. Secrets are well-kept in the military, but when the death of The Compound's leader knocks the whole city off its feet, those very secrets start bursting at the seams, and people start to learn more about the Dead Zone and the Blight than they should.What exactly is such a threat to The Compound that whole squads of soldiers have to be out at night shooting rounds at anything that moves?
Comments: 9
Kudos: 2





	1. Prologue - Starving

**Author's Note:**

> bACK TO MY ROOTS fuck yeah  
> gotta love some proper dystopian sci fi like the shit i wrote when i was 12! hell yeah

It had waited too long to feast.

Far, far too long.

Its joints creaked as it scrambled to its feet as best as it could, considering the disfigurement of its left leg, which twisted and turned in a horrifically ugly way, bending in places it shouldn’t be. When it breathed, using whatever lungs were left in the mess of blackened flesh that covered its chest, there was a rattle of something deep within.

Its arms were unusually long, bent awkwardly in several directions just like its leg, with dirty, blackened nails on the end of each finger, which were all different lengths and permanently stuck in a clawed shape. Every limb was incredibly thin and lanky, looking as if they could barely hold up the bony, deformed torso of this horrific figure.

If it had hair in the past, only a few strands of it loosely hung over its skull, which was equally as  _ wrong _ as everything else. Its lower jaw was oversized, hanging loosely to the side, sharpened teeth peeking from behind its lip.

As it staggered across the concrete walkways, its ribcage, which awkwardly stuck out through its back instead of facing forwards, scraped against the concrete walls of the house it had just emerged from. 

Bright floodlights hurt its dark eyes, making them burn. A growl of sorts was the creature’s reply, leaving the light as quickly as possible, still hunting for something that would satisfy the rapidly growing ache in its stomach, furiously trying to find something or  _ someone _ in the area.

Though it was a monster, driven by nothing but its own hunger, it dragged itself along the floor and around a few walls, wary of the night patrol which would pass by any second. But that barely mattered anymore - god, it was so fucking hungry, and it could smell someone close by, and all that it could think about was how they would be satisfied once it had found that person still wandering at such an awful time of night.

The asphalt scraped some skin away as it shuffled along, following the vivid scent which trailed away from around the corner. It could hear the night patrol quickly approaching from the next street over, their footsteps in perfect sync. Just as the patrol turned the corner, it slipped into an alleyway, and caught up with the man it could smell.

He barely made a noise as the monstrous creature, with an alarming swiftness, tore out a chunk of flesh with its teeth, blood streaming down its face. 

He never thought he’d see a Reaper up close - and he never thought it would be the thing to end his life.   
  
  



	2. I - Over The Edge

It was truly a nausea-inducing sight to behold.

The Compound’s very own leader, Otto Lassila, mutilated in the alleyway between his house and an empty warehouse, with a now bloodied military uniform and skin torn into shreds, hanging off his face, hands and chest where his shirt had been torn open. 

Tiia turned away, not wanting to get any closer. Her stomach tumbled around as her mind pictured what could be past the torn flesh that she could see from the distance she stood at. She was more thinking of what could have possibly done this, however, as it was almost too horrifying to imagine a human doing such damage.

Police tape cornered off the alleyway as a crowd flocked around the area, trying to see what had happened. Inside the crime scene, about twenty officers and a forensic team collected whatever evidence they could find - which wasn’t much. Any evidence that could possibly exist had been contaminated by the sheer amount of blood which had spilled all over the dirty pavement.

Tiia hesitantly took another step closer to the body laying in front of her. Heart pounding as she took in the horror before her, she had to hold back a few tears of pure fear. 

Where Otto’s uniform was opened there was what she initially thought to be a deep cavity, his ribcage completely snapped back so that the inside was more accessible, but there was actually a rough hole right through to the other side, with only his spine left. 

That pushed her over the edge.

With a nauseated stumble, Tiia’s head swaying and stomach becoming more and more unsettled by the second, she staggered over to the wall. Steadying herself, placing her hands on the wall, she tried to gain some slight level of composure.

Just as she was about to walk closer again, someone called her name.

“Miss Öhman?” A voice called, weaving through the crowd and under the tape. 

This voice belonged to a certain Olli Tukiainen, a person she was told would be coming that day. He approached her with a slight smile on his face, glad to find the person he was looking for. It was the best smile he could muster, considering the situation.

“I’m Olli, it’s wonderful to meet you. I’m part of the night patrol, and I’ve been told I’m going to be your assigned soldier from now on.” He spoke, shaking Tiia’s hand. “I… I hope we’re able to figure this one out.”

Tiia could almost feel the nerves dripping off Olli’s pristine grey uniform - had he never seen this kind of stuff before? 

_ Right _ , she thought,  _ he’s not stationed in the Dead Zone. Of course he hasn’t. _

She weakly smiled, her chest still tight. “Me too, Olli. Me too. I’ve been an officer for years and I haven’t seen anything like this before.”

“I’ve seen my fair share of Runners, along with Toppers. But this?” He glanced back at the shape of Otto, now covered with a tarp, his blue eyes wide. “Nothing like this.”

_ Toppers. I haven’t heard about them in a long, long time. _ Her mind wandered a little. 

Toppers, the name given to those who climbed buildings and jumped off the highest point. And Runners, who ran themselves into the electric fence that surrounded The Compound. They were much more common years ago, when a different leader was in charge - Jasper Karhu - who ended up becoming a Topper himself. His tough restrictions drove many citizens to the brink, some over the edge, until Otto Lassila took his place.

Otto was still strict, but that was just part of protocol. Past the electric fence, the Blight, was one of the worst places to be. It’s not surprising that Otto was so adamant about security. Not many people knew what exactly was out there, in the Blight, but most didn’t even want to know. 

What exactly was the electric fence for? Tiia didn’t know, and she knew that was because of protocol, like always. Some people did know, but if they let anything slip, there were dire consequences.

There’s obviously something that they’re trying to keep out - it’s just a matter of what that thing is. Is the thing that killed Otto the very same thing The Compound is so fortified against?

“You’re handling the investigation, right?” Olli queried, snapping Tiia out of her thoughts. “Or is it somebody else?”

Tiia watched closely as the body bag was carefully carried away by the forensic team. “Yeah.” She responded dryly, her stomach beginning to twist again. “I volunteered to take the case on.”

“Well then, I guess we should start figuring out what the hell did this, right?”

She nodded as Olli pivoted away, a slight spring in his step. It made her smile, as best as she could in that current moment. Hopefully he’d be as helpful and trustworthy as she hoped. 


	3. II - The Dead Zone

His hands closed around the cold assault rifle as he followed Mercury Squad into the Dead Zone for the first time in his life.

Step by step, Jaska’s heartbeat evened out to the same beat as the march he followed, the dry grass crunching underneath his feet. The foggy night sky was low, pressing down on Mercury Squad and their desert blended uniform, coloured like the grass they hid in. This night in particular would be longer than usual, scouring the Dead Zone for anything alive that shouldn’t be there.

He knew what he was looking for. He knew what was hidden from the rest of The Compound, in order to prevent a mass panic. If they found out that there was indeed something outside of the electric fence that was hungry, particularly for human flesh, there would be more questions than there were answers, and people would riot.

Reapers were easy to spot in the Dead Zone, but they weren’t easy to hear. You’d think, with their awkward way of moving around, that they’d make more noise than the lockdown siren which occasionally sounded if the Midnight Guard thought there was more than one Reaper in the area - but that wasn’t the case at all.

That’s what made Reapers so deadly.

They were silent, fast, and driven only by their craving for food. They were never satisfied, no matter how many squads they massacred. 

“Olympus,” a voice called over the radio, “can you go and check out that shaded part of the fencing? I’ll back you up. Neptune Squad’s found something in the grasses around Redwick.”

Jaska initially didn’t recognise his new callsign, but a few moments later he realised that he was the one being spoken to. Hesitantly, he turned to the area he was instructed to walk over to, and squinted. It was a little section of the Dead Zone that wasn’t covered by the floodlights around The Compound, and without light, there was a full chance that a Reaper was hiding there.

He radioed back. “Got it, Daredevil. Stay behind me. Any news from Neptune?”

“Nothing yet. I’m guessing they’ve cut off comms for the time being.” Daredevil - Lukas - replied, moving into place behind Jaska.

Jaska made sure his rifle was loaded, shot a few rounds at the grass in the dark, and proceeded forwards. With a swift movement, he shone his flashlight over the darkened space, clearing the area. The fencing was still intact, still buzzing with thousands of volts, enough to take down a Reaper in one touch.

“Still intact. Area is clear.” 

A muffled mess of screams and shouts played back over the radio, deafeningly loud. On the other side of the Dead Zone, hundreds of bullets were shot in the next minute, but as the buzz slowly died down, soldier by soldier, there was only the heavy breathing of one last soldier over comms.

“There’s- there’s a hole in the fence! God, there’s a- shit!” Static.

Jaska turned back to Lukas, mouth half open, frozen in place. Slowly, he lifted a hand to his radio and pressed the ‘call’ button.

“Neptune Squad, do you receive? This is Mercury, is backup needed?” He spoke, voice a little shaky.

Nothing. Jaska tried again.

“Neptune, this is Mercury. Do you receive?” Desperation clawed at his vocal chords. “Fuck, Neptune… please pick up. Come on… please. Please, Neptune. Do you receive?”

Another voice came over the radio frequency - Avatar, the head of communications. “Olympus, stop it.”

“But-”

Lukas stepped forward, placing a gloved hand on Jaska’s shoulder. “They’re gone. It’s your turn to send out the call.”

Jaska bit down hard on his lip, breaking the skin as he tried to hold back a few fearful tears. He shook his head at Lukas, unable to press that damned radio button on his shoulder one more time. With a careful hand, Lukas guided his finger to the call button, and pressed it down.

“This is Mercury Squad, calling Millenium. Millennium, do you hear me?” Lukas spoke into Jaska’s radio, still keeping a warm hand on his shoulder.

A hurried voice joined into the radio frequency. “Yes, I’m here, Mercury. What do you need?”

“Sound the lockdown siren. Broadcast an immediate citizen curfew order to the night patrols. Neptune’s been taken out.” Lukas ordered, his voice not even remotely as broken as Jaska’s.

Millennium stuttered a few times before continuing. “Y-you mean… all of them?”

“All of them.”

“Holy shit. Okay... I’m sending the broadcast out now and the lockdown siren should start up in the next minute or so.” He reported, the frantic clicking of his keyboard able to be heard over the radio. “Mercury, go and take Neptune’s place. A replacement squad will take your district. Stay safe, everyone.”


	4. III - Liberty's Constraints

Jari let out a shaky breath as the sirens echoed through the skies, as an internal panic throughout the military sector of The Compound started to fire up. He was about to leave for home when General Hakala walked in, an unexpected visitor.

“You seem to have made a mistake in your programming, am I right?” The general asked, an accusatory tone dripping off his words. “Remember what I told you, Jari?”

Jari nodded, swallowing hard. “I told you, General, the Liberty system isn’t without its quirks. This is a regular occurrence in the system. I’m not sure I could make something like the Enigma without removing the… quirks you’re referring to.”

The general’s eyes darkened a little, and he swiftly rushed forwards, one hand on his knife. “Don’t talk back to me, you sad little engineer. If this project doesn’t work, you’re out of a job, got it?” His breath was hot on Jari’s cheeks. “I told you to make the Enigma in a specific way, and if you’ve fucked something up here, I will personally kick out the box from underneath your feet when you get publicly hanged.”

Jari blinked a little, trying to hold back his tongue. “Yes, sir.”

General Hakala stepped back, smiling. “Good man. I’d like you to remove those issues in the system right at this very moment. Sit back down, please. I’m going to watch you do it, and don’t you dare try and outsmart me.”

Jari turned back to his main computer screen, heart pounding in his ears. If it was any louder, he wouldn’t be able to hear the disapproving muttering of the general behind him.

_// liberty system - enigma_ _  
__what would you like to edit?_

_ > main programming_

_editing this code is not recommended. it could cause drastic issues in enigma’s programming. do you wish to continue?_

Jari hesitated, hand hovering over the enter key. The general placed a strong hand on his shoulder and whispered in his ear.

“Do it.”

_ > enter _

_main features - active_ _  
__secondary features - active_ _  
__tertiary additions - active_

_ > alter tertiary additions _

_editing this code is possible, but not recommended. please input your password, millennium._

_ > ********** _

_thank you._

_do you wish to disable tertiary additions?_

Jari bit his lip, drawing blood. He closed his eyes tightly, wishing that he didn’t need to do what was ordered of him in that very moment. When he fully thought about it, he wasn’t sure exactly what would happen if he disabled the tertiary additions. They were additions he made, sure, but they were essential for the Liberty system to work in the way he wanted.

A sharp, cold blade scraped against his neck, only piercing through a few layers of skin. Blood threatened to spill, but it was kept behind one last layer.

“Disable it, Jari.”

_ > yes _

_are you sure?_

_ > yes _

_reloading menu…_

_main features - active_  
 _secondary features - active_ _  
**tertiary additions - inactive**_

“Well done, young man. Thank you for that. I’d like to remind you that if you try to change it back, I will be notified.” The general turned on his heel, leaving for his very own home. 

Jari cradled his head in his hands, letting the tears spill. His thoughts a mess, the siren making it no easier to think of things properly, he simply stared at the new menu that the Liberty system presented him, and the one word he wish he’d never see on the menu screen - inactive.

He put his hands on the keyboard again and navigated to the input space. 

_ > i’m sorry, enigma. i’m so, so sorry. i wish i could keep you the way you are. i wish you were enough for him. i hope you know that you’re enough for me. i will always fight for you, you know that? please forgive me. i’m so sorry, enigma. i wish other people saw you the way i do. you’re perfect just as you are, please remember that. _

A reply was processed.

_ > forgiveness? i do not understand. _

All Jari could do was let out a silent, whistling sob. He pressed his hand against the computer screen in despair, closing his eyes, barely holding his entire mind together. Going home didn’t matter anymore. That siren that echoed through the empty halls no longer mattered, either.

All that mattered was Enigma - but the Liberty system had changed. Enigma had changed with it.


	5. IV - Empty Streets

Behind Tiia, Olli kept his eye out for anyone who wasn’t allowed outside. He kept his left hand on the trolley of food packages, and his right hand on the pistol holstered at his waist. The pistol wasn’t for people, but he didn’t know what it was for entirely - he was simply given it and told to use it for self-defence.

Just as they reached the next house along the street, the marching of a returning Midnight Guard squad could be heard. They both turned back to watch as they passed, almost all in sync, expressions emotionless. A few moments later another squad rounded the corner, but this group was transporting some horrifying things to see out in the open.

Ten body bags - one for each soldier in another squad. Blue paint marked the squad they were all a part of: Neptune Squad. Some looked a little off, though. Some of the bags seemed too empty to have a full body inside.

“Oh, fuck…” Tiia stuttered, turning away, digging her fingers into her palms.

She knocked on the door the pair stood in front of, waiting for an answer. It took a few moments, and they almost considered leaving, but soon the door edged its way open. Behind it was a familiar face - Jani, a now-retired pilot who lived alone in the Clarenheim district.

He would have still been flying, were it not for the crash of his fighter jet that left him without a flying partner, without the use of his legs, and without the sight of his right eye. Jani was lucky, that was for sure. His partner had gone missing six days after the crash, only hours before Jani was rescued.

Jani grinned, glad to at least see someone. “Hey guys, you must be the food delivery. Would… would someone be able to just carry it over to the bench over there?”

Olli gladly picked up the crate of bread, vegetables and milk, and brought it inside. Jani’s house, like many others, was quite plain in terms of furnishings, but he was quite artistic. Many of the walls he could reach from his wheelchair were covered in smudges of colour, creating an atmosphere of warmth. 

“Oh, Jani, I didn’t know you were much of an artist!” Tiia exclaimed, peeking through the doorway.

Jani beamed, his smile making the solemn feeling weighing on Tiia and Olli ever so lighter. “There’s not much you can do when you’re stuck like me. I picked it up a few weeks ago, but most of this was done yesterday. To try and, um… distract myself from the shooting on the other side of the city.”

Nearly everyone had heard the rounds being emptied through the Dead Zone just outside of Redwick last night, almost certain it had something to do with why they were all in lockdown now. But only the police force, the night patrols and the Midnight Guard would ever know what happened to the people who shot those bullets.

Only the Midnight Guard, however, would know what exactly the Neptune Squad were shooting at, only mere moments away from the end of their lives. Even the night patrols were kept blind to what they were actually patrolling the city for.

Tiia and Olli moved onto the next house - Markus, who was a prized researcher for the military. He was on his break at the moment, with nothing to study at the current moment, but he was still inside of his house, hunkered down, never emerging.

He didn’t need a lockdown to stop himself from leaving his house.

Olli knew he wouldn’t answer the door, so he dropped the crate off, stood at a distance with Tiia, and made sure nobody stole the food crate before Markus pulled it inside, barely showing his face.

“Well, that’s all for today.” Tiia smiled, handing Olli the last remaining crate on the trolley. “I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?”


	6. V - The Electric Fence

“It’s nice to see you, Millennium. We’ll be accompanying you to the fencing, making sure no Reapers sneak up on you.” Lukas shook Jari’s hand with a confident smile, but Jari’s eyes were already drifting away, searching amongst the group of ten for the one face he recognised.

Jaska forced a smile when he saw Jari, both glad to see him and still immersed in the same feeling he had been experiencing for the last day and a half - ever since he was taken to where Neptune Squad was massacred, torn apart and left strewn across the dead grasses of the Dead Zone.

Everything felt numb - even his senses felt almost… gone. Whenever he touched his rifle, he could no longer feel the cold metal on his hands, and the wind that blew his hickory brown hair around seemed to completely miss his skin. With interaction between other people, he just had to pretend he felt okay.

Lukas tapped him on the shoulder, taking a few tries to snap Jaska out of his trance. “You okay, dude?”

“Y-yeah. Always.” He replied, filling his rifle with a new cartridge before following the rest of the group across the Dead Zone and to the very same area he stood no more than 10 hours ago.

The sun hesitantly set in the distance. Prime time for fixing the electric fence, but leaning into dangerous territory. Reapers always emerged from the Blight after dark, but there really was nothing stopping them from getting inside The Compound during the day, either.

As Jari approached the twisted, severed fencing, he unlocked his toolbox and turned back to Lukas. “Are… are all other available squads stationed where they need to be?”

Lukas nodded, radioing in and asking the fence to be turned off.

This was the most dangerous part of Jari’s job, and the most danger that the Midnight Guard would ever be in.

Swift and speedy, he began working on the fence, replacing the section with new wiring. This was the fastest process, as all he had to do was clip it into the poles that held the fencing up. What took longer was the task of soldering the wiring together, which was the moment that the Mercury Squad was required for.

Jaska turned away, rifle at the ready, eyes open and searching for any movement in the grasses. From behind him, he could hear the crackling of Jari soldering the wires, but there were extra sounds he was able to pick up in that silent, tense moment.

His blood thundered in his ears. Something was close by. 

All of a sudden, his senses were amplified by thousands, able to hear every little breath and every little shuffle. It only took the clicking of something he wished he never had to hear, something he was told about over and over again in his training, for him to turn around, shout for Jari to duck out of the way, and shoot right where Jari stood mere seconds before.

There, a Reaper shuffled out of the trees. It almost seemed too tame, too afraid of the squad. Was it playing tricks on them?

Lukas briskly pulled out the tranquiliser he had in a tiny little package strapped to his thigh and ran towards the Reaper, the horrendous-looking creature still halfway out of the shadows. With a whimper it scrambled closer to grab onto Lukas just as he stuck the tranquiliser into its lanky arm. It blindly tried to grab at him again before finally giving up, going silent.

Jaska was about to empty a whole cartridge into the monstrous thing when Lukas told him, along with the rest of the squad, to put down their weapons. His hands quivered as he tried to put the rifle down, but no matter how hard he tried, something stopped him, and his finger hammered onto the trigger out of pure reflex.

A spatter of black, oozing liquid hit his visor. His first instinct was to clean it off, but as he looked through the clean gaps, he noticed Jari staring right back. He simply stood there, mouth wavering a little, as if he had something to say.

“God, Jaska! Put the goddamn gun down!” Lukas ordered, a fiery tone to his voice. 

Jari and the squad gazed at the pacified Reaper, silent with horror. Seeing one up close was particularly jarring, despite all of the pictures the Midnight Guard trainees would see during their training. There was something about its figure, something about how its limbs bent in all sorts of directions, the bones deformed beyond recognition.

This one’s ribcage was small, and only half of it stuck out of the Reaper’s back. The other half was either no longer present, or hidden under the tears of blackened skin which covered the chest cavity. Its purely black eyes blankly stared ahead, still open. 

“I’ll call the research department. Markus will have use of it. We’ll finally have a Reaper to look at up close.” Lukas said, motioning for the squad to stand around the Reaper as Jari continued his soldering.

Under the cover of complete darkness, the Mercury Squad would deliver a particularly curious specimen to Markus, allowing him to have full reign over its life and how long it would live after being transferred to his lab.

Jari watched Jaska with an overwhelming amount of concern as the soldier walked home in the morning.


	7. VI - Threats

“How did the testing go?” Jari questioned, worried about the changes he had made.

General Hakala stood above him, much taller, and grinned. “Quite well, Jari. There were a few hiccups, as you saw, but after you ran a few more tests for Enigma, it seemed to smooth out again.”

Jari sighed, leaning back in his chair, glancing at the Midnight Guard’s training room through his office’s one-way glass. 

“Enigma did perfectly. It did exactly what I wanted it to do - which is why you changed those settings in the Liberty earlier. It works much better now.” The general continued, pressing for a few more words out of Jari. “When you had the tertiary additions active, Enigma was unstable.”

Jari snapped. “Sure, it was unstable. But now we don’t know what will happen to it! How Enigma can react in certain… situations… is now even more unpredictable.”

“Unpredictable, yes. Able to save people’s lives? Absolutely. We need that unpredictability.”

He stood up from his seat, only holding himself back at the last moment. “If it finds out the truth when in this state of mind, it will kill me. You hear me? Your precious, sad little engineer will be dead on his desk, a whole cartridge of bullets emptied into his back.”

General Hakala chuckled mockingly. “Oh, Jari,” he stepped closer, “don’t you see? You are a disposable asset to the leadership here. On the other hand, your wonderful Enigma, and the Liberty system, is absolutely irreplaceable.”

“Yes,” Jari glared, “ _my_ Enigma. _My_ system. If you get rid of me, you can’t stop it from going rogue. You’ll be at my desk, desperately trying to enter my goddamn password to find the kill switch, just as it enters the room and places its gun on your head.”

A fire burned underneath Jari’s skin. His hands would have set the papers on his desk alight were it not for the way he held them back. He knew he was right. Without him, there was so much that could come crashing down. There was even a risk of a massacre.

“You asked me to make a dangerous piece of technology, and now you expect it to behave in a passive manner. Of course it won’t! You,” Jari pressed a finger against the general’s chest, “have no idea what the Enigma is capable of. And you have no idea what will happen if something goes wrong, do you?”

The general staggered back a little. He clearly didn’t expect Jari to retaliate - he never had, and that’s what made him so good. Jari just did what he was told, nothing more and nothing less. But what the general had said was true - he was disposable. Despite his brilliant mind, there was one that outmatched him - someone… _something_ that was so far ahead of him than seemingly possible.

The very intelligence he created - Enigma.


	8. VII - A Captive Audience

“You really are quite a horrific looking thing, aren’t you?” Markus muttered, surprisingly comfortable being in the same room as this Reaper. 

It laid dormantly on its side, arms supporting its head and legs up against its chest. Standing above, Markus narrowed his eyes and studied the Reaper’s position, which perplexed him. Something about it was almost too familiar, too human - but the general thesis was that Reapers were not related to humans at all. Their genetics varied too much, or at least, that was the popular belief.

He knelt down, hands covered with rubber gloves, holding a group of test tubes, and a scalpel. Careful movements were made to not cause any direct pain, considering it was recovering from being shot in the leg by someone that Mercury Squad’s leader described as ‘a depressed maniac’. That wound continued to ooze the same thick, sticky, ashen liquid which somewhat resembled blood.

Markus took a sample of that, too.

The base samples he was comparing the Reaper samples to were, admittedly, his own, and while he was fully aware that it could ruin the samples, he didn’t mind. First he took the blood samples and compared the cellular structure through a microscope, identifying red blood cells in both. His mouth parted a little as he sketched out the results - this almost didn’t seem right.

Deciding to re-test the blood, he took another sample from the bullet wound and another of his own. Initially, he thought he had just made an error in the first test, but after looking at the new samples again, he was presented with the very same results again.

Perplexed, he moved onto the skin samples to compare DNA sequences. Surely he’d get different results.

Surely.

As he waited for the results to return, he glanced over at the Reaper again. It gave off the strangest of feelings, a sense of humanity, which everyone who knew about them would directly deny. Reapers were not human, and no matter how much testing was done, nobody would take a different answer. Even if they were proven wrong, they would refuse to accept it as real.

Markus’ eyes then drifted to the container that would have contained food.

_ God,  _ he thought,  _ it’s not an animal. I shouldn’t be keeping it like this. It hasn’t even got any food. _

He then peered over to his sandwich. Maybe it wouldn’t eat it, but then what would he feed it? Human meat isn’t really… accessible, so it would have to deal with whatever it was given. With a careful, quiet step, Markus entered the containment unit and slowly placed the sandwich on the floor.

The analyser sent a little pinging noise through the concreted room, announcing its completion. Markus swiftly sat back down, locking the containment cell behind him, and turned towards the screen.

_ Base sample similarity - 95% _

No.

“That… that can’t be right.” He said, reloading the analyser again. 

Only a few seconds passed before the analyser automatically surpassed its analysing stage, still returning with the same result. How could the monstrous thing laying in the containment cell beside him be so similar to him?

How could that even be possible?

Markus almost had to laugh. His research on the Reapers in the past was now completely irrelevant, as he theorised they were a mutation of other animals, all fused together into some awful Frankenstein’s monster. 

“You confuse me, you little… big… creature. Maybe you’re not as much of a monster as we all initially thought.” He chuckled. “I guess I have to name you, then. How does Tapio sound?”


	9. VIII - Surveillance & Suspicions

Swinging open the door to see Tiia and Olli waiting in his office, Jari paused for a moment, taken aback.

“I never thought I’d see you here.” He chuckled, taking his glasses off and polishing them. “What’s up?”

Tiia stepped forward, leaning onto the desk. “We need you to check the Clarenheim surveillance from two nights ago, when Otto was killed.” She sighed, turning so that she could see over Jari’s shoulder.

He opened a few programs, typed a few words in, and waited. 

“Since when did you have access to the surveillance systems?” Olli asked, frowning confusedly.

Jari typed in one last string of numbers and pressed enter with a grin on his face. “Since just now, Olli.”

He turned back to his computer screen, opening countless camera views in front of him. Some showed the night patrols, walking the streets, while some were pointed down alleyways and a whole collection pointed at every front door in the street. With the click of a button he was shown where there was movement on any camera in the Clarenheim district, most being the night patrol or mail being dropped off.

“Hey, what was that over there?” Tiia pointed, causing Jari to hurriedly pause the footage in its steps. “Camera 9, down the alleyway. That’s it. That’s the place where Otto died.”

Jari rewound the footage and watched as a Midnight Guard soldier walked down the alley and entered the building beside it.

“Whose house is that?”

Jari already knew the answer to this. If he answered the question, would it put him and the person, who he knew the identity of, in jeopardy? Neither were guilty of murder, and definitely not Jari in particular.

“That’s me and Jaska’s house.” he replied, watching his friend close the door behind him, with no dead bodies behind him. “We technically live together, but…”

Olli tipped his head a little, furrowing his eyebrows. “But?”

“I spend more and more time up here than down there. The general wants me up here most of the time, monitoring the systems.”

Tiia raised an eyebrow with suspicion, leaning forwards slightly. “So… you wouldn’t have known if he wasn’t home that night?”

Jari shook his head, frustrated. Jaska wouldn’t. He couldn’t. He was a soldier, sure, but he only ever shot the Reapers. Never people. And would never hurt someone as badly as Otto was.

Surely not.

“No. It can’t have been him.” 

Olli gestured to continue going forwards in the surveillance, until the cameras went dead for a brief moment. 

“That’s not supposed to happen, right?”

With a shake of his head, Jari decided in his head what he was going to do that night.

_ Confront him. _

_ Ask what happened that night. _


	10. IX - If I Miss, Will I Die?

“What do you think is out there?” Olli asked, sitting on the kerb of the road, hands around his pistol.

The sun rose in the background, calling Jaska home. On the walk back, he had stumbled on Olli, leaning against his trolley, exhausted.

Jaska had to really think through his reply. If he didn’t say enough, Olli would know, and if he said too much, Olli would also discover the truth. He had to be clever, and he couldn’t play dumb. Olli was well aware that Jaska knew something about whatever was out there in the Blight.

The secrets kept amongst the levels of security and military personnel in The Compound were immense. Police and the night patrol were trained, but never told what exactly they were patrolling the streets for. Most higher-ups knew everything that the Midnight Guard knew, mostly because they had to trust those precious squads with all the information they could grab a hold of.

Other smaller sections knew things too - the research department, in particular, was the only non-military sector trusted with the truth of the Reapers. 

Citizens weren’t told a single damn thing. They just had to accept the shots fired at night, the tight curfews, and the occasional lockdowns preventing them from working. Most of them worked in the construction, agricultural or production industries, and it was horrible work, but essential.

For Jaska, he thought that everyone should know about the constant threat surrounding The Compound. He knew the risks, sure, and there would be a drastic increase of Runners and Toppers, but it would be the best option. The worst thing, in his opinion, was how he had to hide things from the people he interacted with every day, those tasked with an almost identical job, but not trusted with essential information.

“Well, Olli. Why do you think there’s electric fencing around The Compound, past the massive concrete walls topped off with barbed wire? Why do you think I have to go out every night and patrol the Dead Zone?”

Smart. Answering the question with a question.

Olli sighed, shifting in his seat. “I’d say something quite dangerous. And something very classified, judging by the way you tried to avoid the question.”

Damn it.

“Why the fuck do you think we’re in lockdown at the moment, huh?” Olli almost had to laugh, tired of being left in the dark. “It’s obviously got something to do with Otto’s death.” He leaned in a little closer, whispering. “A human can’t do something that awful unless they’re horrifically sick. Whatever I’m patrolling these damn streets for is exactly what killed Otto, and you know I’m right.”

Jaska simply sat there, unable to find a way to answer. 

“Jaska, please.” Olli started to sound desperate. “Am I going to die out here if whatever thing that killed Otto finds me?”

With a sigh, Jaska turned to face the sunrise. He searched for a way to give Olli some consolation, but he couldn’t tell him the truth - how could he possibly give Olli answers without endangering himself? Deep down, there was something stopping him from just blurting everything out right in front of Olli.

“You need a better gun.” He finally spoke, pointing at Olli’s pathetic pistol. “If you empty a whole cartridge all at once, you’ll kill it. Weak spots are its arms and legs. And Olli… if you see one, I know they look like they’ve climbed out of hell, and they probably have, but they’re not invincible.”

He placed his gloved hands on Olli’s shoulders as they both stood up. 

Olli gazed up at the towering soldier, blue eyes wide. “If I miss, will I die?”

“If you’re alone, yes. If there’s somebody else - and I know you have that somebody - there’s a chance you won’t. A very, very small chance, but still a possibility. Grab onto that chance and you’ll live.”

Olli stopped Jaska from walking away. “Jaska, wait. I don’t know what they look like. I don’t know what I’m looking for.”

“You’ll know when you see one.”


	11. X - Pilots

“So… this is for research purposes, right?”

Markus nodded. “And very, very classified. You can’t go around telling anyone that I’ve asked you about this kind of stuff.”

Jani snickered, rolling slowly across his tiny little living room with two mugs of hot water. “I can’t really do that anyway, dude - we’re in a lockdown!”

He handed Markus one of the mugs and moved off to the side, a woolen blanket on his thin, bony legs and fingerless gloves on his hands. His hair, a dirty brown, was shaved closely to the skin, classic military standard. A worn crimson turtleneck sweater covered his arms and neck.

“I need your help with a... thing that I’m studying at the moment.” Markus began. “It’s going to be hell trying to get you down into my lab, so we’re just going to have to deal with this for now.” He paused, quite tense about the idea of telling someone else about the creature he now had to watch all day, every day.

Narrowing his eyes, Jani took a sip from his mug. “And I’m guessing this _thing_ is probably something you shouldn’t have living in your basement?”

“Yeah. There’s a Reaper in my basement.”

Jani chuckled, not even surprised in the slightest. “Right, that’s what I thought. And you’re here to ask me what they’re like, because I’m the only one who’s ever come back from the Blight.”

Markus grinned grimly, nodding a little. “Exactly.”

“What do you wanna know, then?”

“The one I’ve got… is a little different. I’m keeping it half sedated, but even then, Mercury Squad said it was really slow and passive when they found it.” Markus began, gesturing with his pen. “How… how violent can they get?”

Jani looked up at the roof, sighing. “Well,” he picked up his mug again, “it depends. Some of them are really, really quite aggressive.” With a grimace, he leaned over and pulled up his left leg using his pants as a way to cradle it, resting it on the coffee table.

It took him a few moments, but he managed to pull up the leg of his khaki cargo pants, exposing a trailing scar that ran all the way up from his ankle, beyond his knee where his pants rolled up to. The skin was coarse, evident where the most force had been applied. Markus seemed to gain a pretty good idea of how that had happened just by looking at it.

“Or they’re just looking for food. Food, that is… you.” Jani seemed to chuckle at his statement a bit too loudly. “Look, if the squads said that it was passive when they found it, then as long as you don’t make yourself look too… appealing… you’ll be fine.”

That made him laugh too. If Markus was honest, he was personally quite amused too - but now was not really the time. He didn’t plan on getting eaten alive by the Reaper - Tapio - in his basement laboratory.

“Would you happen to have any idea how Reapers… develop? I don’t really know what words to use at the moment, because my latest genetics tests say that they’re quite similar to you and I.” He continued, pressing for more essential answers. 

Jani opened his mouth as if to say something, but quickly closed it, hands tightly clasped together. He sat there for a while, seemingly contemplating his answer. 

“I know some things, but I have to trust you, yeah?” Eventually, he spoke, eyes locked on Markus.

Markus knew how important trust was to everyone in the military, and it seemed like Jani still held onto his, despite being out of service for almost two years. With a strong nod, he confirmed his ability to keep whatever Jani would say next locked away, kept only for his research. _His_ research.

He was a dedicated military researcher, sure, but there was nothing stopping him from withholding information, or covering up the truth with a hypothesis instead. There were no bounds to what he could do, and everything simply was laid out in front of him - he only had to put it all together.

“Absolutely, Jani.”

Jani rolled a little closer, whispering carefully. “It’s in the water. Out there, in the Blight.” He rubbed his hand over his head nervously. “Everywhere. In every lake, river, everything. Even in the goddamn rain. That’s how…”

“How… what?” Markus furrowed his eyebrows.

What was he so hesitant to say?

“The search teams didn’t find Marko, not because he had gotten lost, but because they were looking for a military pilot, not a Reaper.”

Oh, god.

That’s why the genetic analysis was so similar.

“You mean…” He began, completely lost for words.

“Marko got sick. We didn’t know what it was initially, and while he just got worse and worse, I just…” Jani trailed off again, eyes going blank before he swallowed down some more words. “I didn’t.”

He pulled down the neck of his sweater, exposing a fairly large portion of his skin and muscle simply… missing from his neck. Gone. A whole chunk, and a messy arrangement of pale skin covering the part that was gone.

With a small struggle yet again, Jani pulled one of the gloves off his right hand. Markus hadn’t even noticed that there was a missing finger, but now he could see it in its entirety. His hand almost looked hollow, with muscle missing completely, and skin matted together.

“I woke up to him taking a bite out of me.” He recounted, laughing yet again, shaking his head at the same time. “And while I tried to fight him off, he took a finger and part of my hand. I shot him in the stomach - or at least, whatever was left - and he ran off.”

Holy shit.

Jani had more to say, though. “I didn’t see him for a while, then. I was scared that I’d killed him, because as much of a monster he was, he was still Marko.”

A heartfelt nod from Markus prompted more. 

“Six days later, he returned - you know, the very same day I was rescued - and gave me the gash on my leg because he needed another snack and knew where to find me.” He shook his head, biting his lip. “Though… I’m not sure he was really _him_ anymore, you get me?”

Markus couldn’t even find the words anymore. All of his words had all left with the assumption that Marko had just gotten lost.

Now he knew the truth - the horrifying, gory, tragic truth.


	12. XI - Confronted

He still couldn’t shake it. Why couldn’t he fucking smile? All he could do was stand there, trying to force one, but he just… couldn’t. 

“Come on, you bastard, just do it!” Jaska shouted, pounding a fist onto his mirror.

It shattered, casting broken reflections back at him, showing him his bedroom behind him - and Jari’s empty bed, too.

He was now spending even more time up in his office. And if Jaska was to be honest, he had no idea exactly where that office was. He just hoped… if hoped is the right word… Jari would come home soon. His hope, whatever that was, now felt empty, just like everything else he experienced every day.

Before, he found his uniform heavy on his chest, but now it was so heavy that it almost weighed less than a feather. That didn’t make sense at all, but whatever Jaska was feeling was indescribable. The worst contributor to his empty feelings were the flashes of memories of the Neptune Squad, all dead in front of him.

Why did he, of all people, have to be cursed with such a vivid, reliable photographic memory? 

Keys chimed as someone unlocked the door, face covered with shadow, uniform creased and hair messy.

“Jari?” Jaska called, closing the bathroom door to hide the mirror.

Jari glanced up, bags slung over his shoulders, grinning. “Hey, Jaska. Sorry it’s uh… sorry it’s been so long. I’ve… I’ve just got to put my stuff away, and then we, um…” He put his bags down, but refused to make eye contact. “We need to have a talk about something, okay?”

Jaska frowned, confused. What was there to talk about other than Jari’s absence? Though this sounded more serious than that.

“Jaska,” Jari said, hugging onto him, taking in his warmth, “I’m so sorry. For being away, for not being here for you when you needed me.”

Jaska raised an eyebrow, pushing Jari away. “There’s something to this, isn’t there? You’ve been away for three weeks, for fuck’s sake, Jari! What the hell is more important than you and I, huh?”

Something seemed to snap inside of him. These didn’t feel like proper feelings, proper emotions, but anger was all he had left.

“Hey, hey! Can you just let me talk?” Jari spoke, never raising his voice, actively keeping himself in check. “A guy was murdered outside of our goddamn house and now the police think we did it, okay?”

With a frustrated sigh, Jari ran a hand through his hair and leaned against the kitchen bench. 

“No, they think I did it, don’t they?” Jaska took a step closer, breath hot. “Don’t try to soften it for me. They think I killed someone? How?”

“They saw you walk past a few minutes before on the security footage.”

As he rolled his eyes, Jaska clenched his jaw. “And who the fuck showed them that, huh?” Chuckling mockingly, he continued. “Oh, I don’t know, how about the depressed engineer who is too much of a pussy to tell someone that the general used to abuse him?”

Jari stepped back again, mouth open. “Wow, Jaska. Low blow. Low blow, asshole. All I wanted to know is what happened that night, okay?”

“Oh, so you think I did it? Fucking hell, Jari! Do you have any idea what you’re accusing me of? I’ll be shot to death by my own squad!”

Jari grabbed a hold of Jaska’s wrist, still managing to keep himself composed to some level. “I know you didn’t do it. That’s why you have to work with me, okay? I know this is a lot. I know there's a lot going on and I’m so incredibly sorry that you’ve had to deal with all this alone.” He explained, rubbing his thumb over Jaska’s hand.

The red mist seemed to clear from Jaska’s head.

Jari bit his lip. “They think you did it because you were the last person seen around the area, but they think I helped, because the cameras went dead over the time Otto was killed.”

The reality dawned on Jaska, and with the touch of Jari’s hands - which he could, in fact, feel on his skin - his clouded mind made a little more sense.

“I know you didn’t do it.” Jari repeats, holding Jaska’s hands tightly. “That’s why I’m trying to recover the lost footage. It’s why I’ve been away for so long.”

“Are you close to finding it?” Jaska asked, starting to cool down.

With a nod, Jari tried to muster a smile. “I think so, yeah. Or I’ll be able to find another view of it using the older cameras. I don’t quite know yet, but I promise I will try my hardest to clear our names.”


	13. XII - The Words On The Wall

Climbing down the ladder to the basement, Markus couldn’t stop thinking about the new information he now knew, thanks to Jani. So much more had changed, and he wasn’t particularly sure whether he liked the idea of sharing the truth. Would it be better to remain a mystery?

He glanced over at the glass wall, a whopping 15 centimetres thick just to make sure that Tapio didn’t break through. But from his observations, it… he... didn’t seem to want to attack him anyway. The bullet in his leg along with the sedatives seemed to keep him in check.

After taking his notes and saving them, he checked on Tapio again, his eyes widening at the sight in front of him. He was… god, he was using his blood to paint things on the walls. Markus groaned, not particularly willing to clean it up, but sat there and watched nonetheless.

Initially, they were just smudges on the walls, but soon something seemed recognisable. A line, then a dot. Another two lines, and then another dot. He was using Morse code, albeit roughly, but the issue was that Markus didn’t know Morse code, and there weren’t many people who remembered it anymore.

However… Markus knew one person that would, by chance, remember, and that was Jani, because he used to work in communications before he was a pilot. Though the issues around trying to get Jani down into the basement were monumental. There was no way in hell that Markus would be able to carry him down, and even then - Jani wouldn’t have his wheelchair.

He stood up out of his chair and walked over to the glass, knocking on it softly. Tapio turned, ebony eyes seemingly looking at Markus directly, and slowly dragged himself over, the leg that had been shot trailing behind awkwardly. When he got closer, Markus could see a paler, more grey section of his skin, just above Tapio’s hips.

Tapio placed a clawed, twitching hand onto the glass. His dark eyes stared into Markus’ very own, deeper and deeper. 

Down the rabbit hole of a scientist’s mind.

Something deep in Markus’ heart stirred. He lifted his hand slowly, putting a finger onto the icy glass first, and then his entire palm.

_ Who are you? _

Markus quickly retracted his hand, and so did Tapio, mostly in shock. A gentle hum, somewhat electric, echoed inside of his head. The hairs on his arms stood up, his heart skipping a beat - though not in the way you’d initially think. Letting out a shaky breath, he met eyes with Tapio again.

What the hell just happened?

Tapio scampered back, faster than Markus had ever seen, and pressed himself against the wall as best as he could. In the process, he knocked over the glass of water that Markus had slid inside, and made an awful screeching noise in reaction to a tiny splash of it touching his skin.

“You’re afraid of water…” Markus started, thinking back to what Jani said. “Reapers become Reapers because of whatever’s in the water… of course! No wonder you’re afraid.”

Cautiously, he picked up some old rags he had lying around, opened the door, and started wiping up the water. He kept an eye on Tapio the whole time, making sure he wasn’t just tricking him, but Tapio just sat back there, against the wall as best as he could with his whole… ribcage situation. 

Markus was about to leave when Tapio made a small, quiet groaning noise. He reached out with his massively long arms at Markus, gesturing as best as he could. With another whimper Tapio pushed his leg out towards the wall, showing the part that had gotten all wet.

It took Markus a while to decode what he wanted, but soon he glanced up at Tapio with a careful gaze. “You’re not going to hurt me, are you?”

Slowly, Markus lowered a hand to Tapio’s leg and started to pat it dry, careful not to agitate him. It was only when Markus had finished that he felt that strange, unwavering feeling yet again.

Hair standing up. Heart pulsing. That gentle, almost silent hum in his head, and the sparks that came along with it.

_ Please don’t be afraid. _


	14. XIII - Venture

Jaska wasn’t on duty on that foggy, cold night. But here he was, walking through the Dead Zone - slightly out of his squad’s surveillance perimeter so he couldn’t be caught. Wearing his jacket but without all of his pins and patches that would identify him, he held onto his training-issue pistol with one hand and a tranquiliser in the other. 

Something beckoned him from the other side of the electric fence. He couldn’t see very far in front of him, though, as the fog was thick and hung low to the grass. By the time he neared the electric fence, though, he realised there was a hole in the fence - one that Jari didn’t know about.

Jaska hesitantly reached for his radio in his pocket. Jari would be in his office yet again, but then he and anyone else monitoring the comms would know that Jaska was out in the Dead Zone while not on duty. After some thought, he put his radio back and decided he’d utilise the hole in the fence to his benefit.

Careful not to touch the fence, still electrified, Jaska jumped over the fallen wires and took his first steps into the Blight. His flashlight highlighted the drastic change between the Blight and the Dead Zone, where at one point the grass simply stopped growing and the dirt turned black. 

Twisted, ashen trees reached for the sky, planting their roots deep into the ebony soil. The fog lightened here, allowing Jaska to look up and see the sky. With a careful first few steps, he glanced around, listening for any movement, making sure he didn’t get ambushed.

Eerily silent, with nothing but the sound of Jaska’s own footsteps, the Blight almost seemed peaceful and serene. If it weren’t for the gruesome state that the environment was in, maybe it would have been nicer to be in the Blight. While trees and vines were present, they didn’t seem alive in the way they should have been - all blackened, covered by a layer of darkness.

Jaska sat down and looked at his surroundings for a few moments. Despite the continuous empty feeling that ate at his mind, he could simply sit there and appreciate the odd beauty that the Blight possessed. He’d been told his whole life to fear the Blight, but now that he was standing in the middle of it, he couldn’t believe the things he’d been told.

From inside his pocket, his radio started playing a voice he recognised.

“I’m at the fence. Jupiter Squad, can you accompany me? I’m going to have to fix it.” 

Jari.

Jaska scrambled to his feet, but soon pressed his back to a tree, close by the fence. Peeking around the side, he could see Jari waiting as Jupiter Squad approached from inside the fog’s embrace. He held his breath and waited a very, very long time.

There were a few shuffles in the Blight around him, but nothing ever came closer. 

By the time Jari was done and Jupiter Squad had left with him, Jaska had been waiting for hours. Silently, he slipped from behind the tree and began walking through the fog, back home. The fog had gotten thicker, harder to see anything in front of him, and he almost walked right into one of the inner walls.

As he tried to sneak through the streets, he passed a house which still had its lights on. Running past, he caught a glimpse of Jani, someone he hadn’t particularly spoken to before, looking directly at him with, well, the eye that still worked. 

Damn it.

Would he say anything?


End file.
